Letting The Hair Down
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: After lots of seriousness, the f4 decide to let their hair down for a night, but will Reed's idea of a different kind of experiment have more repercussions for him and Sue? SueReed


It had been good. Very good. So good that they all realised how much they hadn't let their hair down since they'd been given their cosmic powers. In the past two months they been in almost every night, including Johnny. Now they had finally got sick of cooking dinner ever single night, so had decided on a simpler dinner, a junk food buffet. Perhaps their last link to their ever fading teenage years

And they had demolished it all in under an half an hour.

Sue back against the couch she had previously sat on top of. The wondrous feeling of having a full stomach, as well as the warmth from the winter need for big jumpers was pure bliss. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this relaxed. Before she had come to the Baxter Building, it was always make sure that you eat something with energy in it, something to keep you awake, and then back to work. When she had moved in with the others, her priorities had changed. Making sure that Johnny wasn't getting into trouble, and that Ben wasn't provoking him kept her on her toes...yet there was always Reed, doing the same, but making sure that she was okay as well.

Reed, still sitting on the couch beside her, from where they had been playfully stealing each others food, was still smiling. Of course, he looked at the others as they spoke, at Ben and Alicia, at Johnny and Emma, his childhood sweetheart who had recently come back into the picture for him, just to make it seem like he was really smiling at the passing jokes, at the light hearted comments that fleeted through the room, free of responsibilities. When really, he was smiling because of Sue.

From where he sat, he could see the peaceful expression on her face as she reclined slightly against the couch. The hint of a smile was enough to keep on drawn on his own lips, though hers were much more inviting to look at. As he gazed down at her, he felt himself grow warmer, content, at the remembrance of what had happened a half hour ago. He loved her cheeky smile as she stole some of his food, he loved her playful surprise when he had stolen some back, he loved how she had not immediately wiped away the ketchup he had vengefully smeared down her cheek, he loved how she had done the same back, and then half an hour later, wiped it off with her finger and licked it from the digit.

He loved her.

The past few weeks living together had been less that blissful because of the strain of their new media attention, but every second he had spent with her made everything ok again. It made him feel happy again. It made her feel normal again. It made them both feel lucky to have the other. Without them, they would both fall apart completely. Sue would be hiding away from the cameras that followed her every move, and Reed would still be fooling himself that he could go many days without sleep in his lab.

Now, the playfulness had died down, and the group were just talking, laughing, enjoying themselves with the people they had come to love as family over the past two months. Yet only Sue and Reed were sitting silently. No words needed between the pair, and none wanted, in case the moment was ruined. The presence of the other was all they needed for the night to be completely perfect.

Sue inhaled loudly, which turned into a yawn that she couldn't suppress. Reed noticed this, and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, so that his face drew level with hers, facing into the centre of the room.

"Tired?" He asked her with a smile on his lips.

She nodded. "A bit." Only it was clearly a bit more than 'a bit', shown when she yawned again.

"Sue..." Reed said with a gentle laugh, and she knew that he didn't believe her, but his laugh tempted her into laughing as well. As they laughed, her head fell against his knee, and she rested it in his lap, not moving it away even though her conscious thought was telling her too. Reed was surprised at the position she put herself in, but didn't complain. Instead, he pulled back the fringe of her hair that fell over her tired eyes. "How much sleep did you get last night?" He asked her seriously.

She didn't answer.

"Sue?"

She didn't answer again.

He sighed. "You didn't get any sleep, did you?" He realised.

She nodded. "I kept just tossing and turning, I couldn't get comfortable." She admitted, and shuffled a little, yet keeping her head in his lap. This was when he noticed that his hand was still entwined in her golden hair. "This, however, it very comfortable." She murmured softly, and Reed knew that she was falling asleep.

He smiled softly, and without thinking about it, his hand softly began to massage her neck. She let out a content sigh, just on the verge of sleep, when a voice called her out of it.

"HEY SUE!"

She lifted her head sleepily from Reed's lap, and looked across the room to where Ben and Johnny were sitting. Emma was shaking her head slowly, and meeting Sue's eyes, and Sue knew what was going to happen next. She sighed as well, wishing that she hadn't moved her head from the comfortable pillow she had created for herself.

"What?" She called back.

"Comfy?" Johnny asked her.

"Very!" She told them.

Ben laughed. "You guys look like a married couple!"

Reed gave a nervous laugh, but didn't deny it. Sue also didn't deny it, but she decided not to let that go without an equally embarrassing comment.

"So do you!" She said to Ben and Johnny

Alicia and Emma burst into hysterics as Sue lowered her head back into Reed's lap, fully prepared to get back into the same peaceful state. When her head was comfortable again, Reed dipped his head quickly to kiss her hair, which brought a smile, and, dare she admit it, a blush to Sue's face.

"Come on, let's call it a night." He whispered to her.

She nodded wearily, and when he stood up, she took the hand that he extended down to her, allowing him to pull her to her feet. When she wobbled tiredly, Reed gripped her upper arms, steadying her. Then they started out of the room in the direction of Sue's bedroom.

As they walked off, Ben and Johnny looked at each other with gaping mouths.

"Did you see that?" Johnny asked.

"He _kissed _her!" Ben stuttered. "He _actually _kissed her."

"No, it doesn't count. It was her hair not her lips." Johnny pointed out. "You're not winning this bet until they kiss on the lips."

"But that must mean they're going to kiss soon!"

An invisible light bulb switched on above their heads, and Johnny snapped his fingers. "Come on, Benny boy, let's follow them."

"Ben!" Alicia began, but he didn't pay any attention.

Reed kept his arm around Sue's shoulders, guiding her through the halls towards her room. The downside of having the lab in the middle of his home was that it did take a while to get from one end of the place to the other.

"Sue." Reed said suddenly.

"Mmmm?"

"About earlier...you know...in the shower..."

Sue woke up a bit there.

"I ... uh ... I'm sorry that I didn't knock ... and that I didn't leave ... and that I stared."

Damn. He wasn't supposed to admit that he had stared.

"It's ok..." She said with a laugh, remembering that Reed had accidentally walked in on her earlier, but she'd just caught time to turn invisible and cover herself. "I'm glad it was you and not one of the others."

"Well, anyway, I'm sorry." He repeated as they reached her room, not seeing Ben and Johnny peeking around the corner of the wall at the end of the hall.

They stood outside for a moment, with Reed preparing to say goodnight to her, and then head back to the main living room, but it became more awkward, and then Sue smiled.

"What are you smiling for?" Reed asked, even though he was smiling himself.

"Earlier on...in the shower..." She began, "Were you checking me out?"

The question and the memory that came with it made Reed laugh again, but with a hint of red creeping up his cheeks that hadn't been there before. "Trust me, If I was checking you out, you'd know it." He told her.

Sue raised an eyebrow. "And I know it very well." She said with a grin. "It was _obvious_, Reed." She told him when he tried to feign surprise.

He shook his head. "That was _your _fault."

"How?"

"For walking two inches beside me wearing a towel that just about covered..._everything_." He admitted.

Now it was Sue's turn to blush, only since their cosmic enhancements, her cheeks simply shimmered out of visibility, and she looked away unable to contain her smile. "It was the only one that had been left out." She explained. "I didn't have much choice."

Reed laughed with her, and then he suddenly realised how close they were. There was about half an inch between them, which he wished was closer. As a breeze of wind swept over them from the open window at the end of the hall, Sue shuddered, despite her big winter jumper. Reed reached out, and rubbed his hands up and down from her shoulders to her elbows, all the while their eyes were connected. His touch was warming her in more ways than one, and it wasn't long before she was leaning fully against his chest, with his hands now rubbing her back softly. The soothing pressure of his palms was relaxing her so much that she wanted to tell him everything, right there, but she held back that one step.

Without making eye contact with them, Reed finally noticed Ben and Johnny out of the corner of his eye, watching them. He laughed, breaking the moment.

"What?" Sue asked, starting to move, but Reed held her still, whispering in her ear.

"Don't move, we have an audience." He told her.

"Not the press again?" She half complained.

"No, Ben and Johnny, peeking round the corner of the hall." He confirmed. "Right, don't move, just put your arms around my neck." He told her, his eyes glinting wildly.

"Why?" She asked curiously, leaning her head back to see his face fully, and having to smile at the intense playful look on his face. It wasn't an expression she was used to seeing on his face.

"Just do it." He told her. She did, and she asked why again. "Because I've got an idea."

"Care to elaborate on that?" She asked.

"No." He smiled. "Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Do you trust me not to drop you?" He asked her seriously.

"You're kidding right?"

"No, do you trust me? Yes or no?" He repeated.

"Yes, I trust you." She laughed, a little nervousness creeping into the back of her mind. What crazy idea did he have in his head?

"Right, now, we're going to give them the shock of their lives." He told her. "Just listen for them squealing like school girls. Ready?"

"Ok." She said strangely, eyeing him curiously.

Then, he did it. One of his hands went up to her shoulders, wrapping around both of them at the centre where her spine was, and the other rested on her lower back. Putting some pressure on her lower back, he leaned her so far backwards that she would have fallen without his arms holding her up. This was when she heard the squeal Reed predicted, and she realised what he was doing, and she loved it, but her lips didn't have time to form a smile before Reed's were upon them. It was a tender kiss, not rushed, not full of lust, but slow, full of passion and love. She tried to convince herself that he was simply doing this to wind up the others, but she couldn't - there was too much feeling behind it. Her arms tightened around his neck, bringing him closer to her as the kiss deepened.

Neither of them knew that Ben and Johnny had disappeared with that squeal to tell the rest of the girls that 'it' had finally happened. All they knew that they were kissing. Reed held fast to her, knowing that she trusted him not to drop her, and so he made no move to return her to a standing state. Instead he continued to explore her mouth with his tongue, their lips colliding again and again until that soft moan escaped Sue's lips that showed him that she was enjoying this as much as he was.

They parted slowly, and after a few seconds of gazing into each others eyes, he brought her up again to stand. His hands remained on her back, and hers around his neck. She leaned her forehead to the base of his throat, both of them catching their breath back.

"I think that definitely shocked them." Sue said with a nod.

"I told you they'd squeal." Reed laughed.

But then the humour of the moment passed, and they were aware fully of what had just happened.

"Reed..." She started. "Is it wrong to have enjoyed that?" She asked him.

He shook his head, gazing into her eyes. "No." He told her. "I've been wanting to do that for weeks."

His confession brought a smile to her face, and he smiled too. "So, the guys were just an excuse?" She mused.

"Absolutely."

"And you _were _checking me out earlier?"

"I couldn't help it."

They both smiled, and then their lips met again. Just as passionate as before, and it lasted longer, with soft pauses where they took a breath before capturing each others lips again. The hand on Sue's lower back slipped beneath her sweatshirt, rubbing circles on the base of her spine which soothed another moan as the hand travelled further up her back, and then back down, and repeating this motion. His other hand was tangled in her hair, where as her arms, around his neck, were simply assuring that if her knees gave way, she wouldn't fall.

"Oh my god!"

"Holy crap, dude, they're still at it?"

"They're like rabbits!"

"I _knew _it!"

The sudden outbursts from their now growing audience caused them to part quickly in surprise. They turned to see that Ben and Johnny had clearly only disappeared to bring in more witnesses, and they were now face with the two men and the girls as well. Emma smiled at the pair, as did Alicia, but the two men gave Reed a thumbs up instead. Shaking her head, Emma began to shove them away, with the help of Alicia.

"Don't worry guys, we'll get the _children _to bed." Emma said, with Johnny's head whipping round at the notion of being called a child.

"I'm not-"

"Johnny, just leave them be." Alicia warned, and they all gave, in disappearing again, leaving Reed and Sue alone again.

Reed placed a kiss on her lips again, but it didn't develop as the others had done, it was a reassuring one, that told her everything would be alright from now on. She rested her head comfortably on his shoulder. "You should get some sleep," He said to her softly, his breath beating down on her neck.

"Reed?" She asked, and looked up at him. "Stay with me, please?" She asked him.

She half expected him to insist on returning to the lab, to tell her that he needed to be working, but he didn't. He nodded. "Of course."

Together, they went into Sue's room. Sue crawled into one side of the double bed, still wearing the thick winter jumper. Reed moved beside her, and she curled up beside him, as he took her hand over their stomachs, softly stroking her palm with his thumb.

"Sue, when _was _the last time you slept properly?" He asked her.

She sighed, there was no use lying to him. "A few days ago." She said quietly. "I know that its not good, I just couldn't sleep." She explained. "I'm always worried that if I go to sleep, then something's going to happen."

Reed understood her fears. He hated closing his eyes at night, unsure what would happen that time the darkness set in; already they'd had paparazzi sneaking in, an attempt from a thief, and many of Victor's supports attempting attacks in the night; particularly on Sue. Too many times, Reed and the others had fallen asleep in various places in her room after a break in because one of Victor's old colleagues had attempted to attack her. "Don't worry, sleep tonight. I'm here." He assured her.

She nodded, and her head fell lazily against his shoulder. "Thank you, Reed."

She was silent from then, and Reed assumed she had fallen asleep, so he kissed her forehead, and whispered: "I love you." Quietly to her.

He was shocked to hear a reply of "I love you too, Reed." From her, showing that she wasn't asleep, but he continued to hold, her and soon after he heard her breathing even out and slow, he fell into a peaceful sleep himself.

The next morning, they awoke with the sunrise, yet they didn't leave Sue's room until midday. Ben had been terrified when he had attempted to see if Sue wanted breakfast, and had left in a hurry, not admitting anything he saw as he could do nothing but babble wildly, though he did attempt to tell the others through some form of charades. When they finally did emerge together, the buttons on Sue's shirt were done up with one side higher up than the other, and Reed' belt on but not clasped up, both were wearing uncontrollable grins. Ben hid as soon as he saw them, but Johnny waited until Sue went over to see Alicia before he walked past Reed, clapping him on the shoulder, and said four words to him that perhaps were the truest words Johnny had ever said to him.

"Man, you're so whipped."


End file.
